Internet Essentials: Another twist on low-cost broadband service for low-income Americans

Comcast, the cable TV giant, is the biggest name in the low-cost internet business with a program called Internet Essentials. If you live in areas of the country served by Comcast and you qualify, you can now get Internet Essentials for just $9.95 per month instead of the $40–60 (after teaser promotions) the company charges for its lowest cost basic plan. As of August 2014, over 1.4 million kids from 350,000 families now are online thanks to the wonderful program.

Consider this important statistic: Only 45% of families earning under $30,000 currently have broadband service in their homes. This puts those parents and their children at a huge disadvantage when it comes to finding and applying for jobs, communicating with doctors, completing homework and other everyday tasks that more affluent families take for granted.

Internet Essentials costs just $9.95 a month and delivers a blazing fast 10 Mbps download speed. Qualifying families will even be able to purchase a computer for only $149.99. There are no activation fees and no additional equipment fees, and your internet now comes with a wireless router.

You also get the world famous Norton Security Suite which gives you professional online security. It’s a $160 value, but you get it absolutely free.

And finally, Internet Essentials gives you free parental control features to help protect your kids whether they’re doing their schoolwork or just playing on the internet.

How to qualify for Internet Essentials

To qualify for Internet Essentials and get a low-cost computer and high-speed internet access for just $9.95 per month, a family must have at least one child eligible to receive a reduced or free school lunch through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) (recently broadened to include students in private schools, parochial schools and homeschooled students). Schools designated at “Provision 2” automatically qualify all students.

There are two restrictions that you must be aware of:

You cannot have been a Comcast internet subscriber in the last 90 days. If you want to get Internet Essentials, you are going to need to cancel (if you contract allows) your service and call Internet Essentials to sign up after three months.

You cannot have a Comcast bills that is over 12 months past due. However, if you have an overdue bill from just within the last 12 months, Comcast has recently changed the rules and will accept you as an Internet Essentials customer, provided you agree to the payment plan they work up to pay off the late bills.

You cannot have any unreturned equipment.

Of course, you have to be in an area served by Comcast, but you’ve got a good chance, since Internet Essentials is available in more than 4,000 school districts in 39 states plus the District of Columbia.

The states we show as having Comcast Cable available are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia (DC). If you don’t see your state on the list, you should still check with Comcast in case they’ve added service in a state since we wrote this.

Once enrolled, a customer will be able to continue receiving Internet Essentials service at the same low price as long as at least one child in their household continues to qualify for a reduced or free lunch under the National School Lunch Program.

Internet Essentials originated when Comcast acquired NBC. In order to win FCC approval, Comcast agreed to “increase broadband deployment in low income households” for three years. In 2014 they said they would like to run the program “indefinitely.”

Let’s hope they keep to that plan.

If you aren’t able to get Internet Essentials in your area, or if you have trouble qualifying, take a look at our exhaustive list of low-income internet providers to find one that might be able to help you. And keep up with the latest developments on our news and blog page.

I need low-cost internet in Oklahoma City. I am almost 72, low-income limited to Social Security. I have no auto transportation, no driver’s license; I attempt to do volunteer activity which meets my health requirements. I started a free bicycle non-profit from my garage before I had to vacate my residence.

Well I just spent the last two hours navigating these web sites. It’s a wild goose chase that has ended with the realization that I don’t qualify for low cost internet because I don’t have a child at home who qualifies for the school lunch program and I’m not 65 years old. I am 57, unemployed, and my U/I benefits ran out a month ago. My internet bill is $75.00 per month which I can’t pay with 0 income, but how am I supposed to find a job without it?

Did you check out PCs for People, Michelle? Eligibility is income-based and the program allows a much higher income level than you might expect. Check it (and all the other low-income programs currently available) at this link:

Internet Essentials is 15Mbps, enough to do one bandwidth intensive thing at a time and several non intensive things at a time. So if you wanted to stream a movie in HD on a large screen tv you could, but couldn’t do anything else. But if you wanted to do your homework or work on a project online and your roommate wanted to stream video on phone then you could.

Is Essentials available for low income. student attending college . and does receieve foodstamps. Im 48 going to college. I receive the Snap benefits . i dnt live in housing im not on any school lunch program and im not a senior citizen. So what program u have to offer for me for internet. For my studies.

You cannot apply here, Ikhlas, because this website is not operated by an low-income internet service provider. This is an independent informational website. You need to enroll directly with the service provider using the contact info we provide in the article.

We’re not sure where you got your information, Blah, but it’s incorrect. Internet Essentials is by far the largest of the low-income internet plans. Comcast has done a great job promoting it and it now serves millions of low-income Americans.

The problem may be the terminology you’re using. Internet Essentials is NOT a government assistance program. It is 100% sponsored by Comcast.

Thank you FCC for requiring Comcast to make cheap internet available as a condition for buying NBC. Thank you Comcast for extending your program beyond three years. We advance as a culture from the largess of big corporations. The poor are not as likely to suffer a decline in the quality of life and cause any further difficulties when they are given amenities at no great expense to big business. Abe Lincoln read law books by fireplace light. Comcast may be providing the same incentive by making internet available to the poor.

I am 63 with only unemployment benefits as income. When it runs out my income will be zero. Need internet to find work. Is there any cheap plan for me in California zip code 95242?I have a desktop computer already .

I previously called Internetessentials and was told that the cost of my internet would be reduced as I am considered a low-income senior citizen. However when I checked my Comcast website I found I was being billed @ my previous rate of $63. including tax. My account # is 8535 1141 6005 4538.

We think the customer service agent was incorrect. You cannot move directly from a full-price Comcast plan to the low-income Internet Essentials internet plan. You must have a break of 90 days in which you do not subscribe to IE. Yeah, that’s horribly inconvenient, but those are the rules.

The good news is that there may be other internet plans available during that gap or even from now on. Click through all the low-income service providers at this link to see which one fits your needs best:

I really am in need of affordable of Internet. I’m a senior Widow on social security. Please help. I like in Knoxville Tennessee. Please let me know if I’m eligible for low-income internet services. Thank you very much.

That’s impossible for us to answer, Starla, because we don’t know how much you make nor exactly where you live. But you can easily contact Internet Essentials (the contact info is in the article above) to ask if you qualify and if it’s available in your area.

If not, there are lots of other options for you to check out at this link:

Have you checked to see in which states and cities Internet Essientials is available? Check this body of the article above. You should also check out all the other low-income internet plans to see if one of them fits your needs better than the others. Here’s where you can check them all out:

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